


The Poison Ivy Debacle

by contemplativepancakes



Series: The Poison Ivy Debacle [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Abusive John Winchester, Homophobia, John Winchester's A+ Parenting, M/M, Teacher! Castiel, abusive relationship (not Dean and Cas), gay panic but not for that long, mechanic! Dean, self worth issues, this is actually kind of fluffy, with just a side of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-12
Updated: 2017-08-12
Packaged: 2018-12-14 15:09:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11785746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/contemplativepancakes/pseuds/contemplativepancakes
Summary: Castiel is looking to get laid, per his brother's orders. He meets Dean, who would be perfect for him, only to discover Dean can't hit the sheets with him right away. The two are forced to go on a date and find themselves falling harder than expected for the other.





	The Poison Ivy Debacle

**Author's Note:**

> Although this story comes to a conclusion, it's not exactly finished. I'm planning on eventually making it part of a series, but I don't know where to go with this story anymore.I wanted to post the beginning. You'll notice there are some loose ends that don't get tied up, and if I ever finish it I have explanations for those. Happy reading!

When Castiel startles awake, the only thing he can remember about his dream is a pair of shockingly green eyes. He's left with the feeling that he has seen these eyes, framed by beautiful long eyelashes, before. He can’t for the life of him remember where he’s seen those eyes before. This mild unsettling feeling, however, is easily dwarfed by the pleasantness he feels that only a good dream can bring. The only problem is he can't seem to quite remember the dream. Nevertheless, he rides that high as he stumbles around his apartment getting ready for his day. As he goes about doing all his essential morning business (read: getting his coffee and attempting to tame his hair), those eyes are still on his mind.

As he walks out of his apartment, he braces himself for the dreary Kansas day. _You’d really think it’d be nicer on a Saturday,_ he thinks grumpily. He squints up at the sun, not quite comprehending how the weather can be so depressing while simultaneously blinding him. He walks the familiar path to his brother's pastry and coffee shop on autopilot while he struggles to keep all his papers contained inside his bag. He makes it to his brother's shop, Twisted Treats, and stops right before he pushes the door open. There is a gorgeous black car in the parking lot gleaming in the sunlight that catches his eye. Castiel stares for a second until he shakes himself out of it and enters the shop. The bell tinkles above him, and he is met with his brother's cry of, "Cassie!"

"Hello, Gabriel," Castiel answers tiredly.

"How's my baby bro doing today?" Gabriel asks him as he bounces around behind the counter.

"I'll take a cinnamon raisin bagel," Castiel says in lieu of answering.

"One of those days, huh?" Gabriel asks knowingly.

"It always seems to be one of those days, Gabriel," Castiel sighs.

"Well, I know exactly what you need, Cassie. You need to get laid," Gabriel tells him with a grin, "Doctor's orders."

"Honestly, maybe I should," Castiel answers.

Gabriel immediately yells over his shoulder, "Deano!"

"You rang?" A young man answers as he steps out from the bakery in the back of the shop.

 For some odd reason, he is wearing sunglasses. Maybe he is blind, Castiel muses.

"Have you met my brother, Castiel, before?" Gabriel questions the newcomer.

"I think he's been in here a couple of times, but he was paying more attention to his papers than anything else," the man answers.  

"Anywho, I need a cinnamon raisin bagel and a piece of that sweet ass for my brother-,"

“Gabriel!” Castiel whines.

Gabriel continues as if Castiel had never interrupted him, "Also, take off those glasses. Only the blind and douchebags wear sunglasses indoors.

The man blushes fiercely, making freckles stand out against his skin as he removes his glasses.

As he raises his eyes to meet Castiel’s, his breath is taken away. It's him.

 

The man smiles sheepishly as he explains why he was wearing sunglasses indoors. "Well, you see, somehow my incredibly dumb ass has managed to get poison ivy all around my eyes. My brother just had to go on some dumb nature walk, and he wound up with poison ivy all over his back, so I, being a saint, offered to rub the cream on him since lord knows he has no one else to do it for him." The man rolls his eyes, and then he continues, "and I end up with it all over my face."

Now that Castiel has gotten over the initial shock of the green of the man's eyes, he does notice the red blotchiness that is all over his face. Castiel begins to stutter a response when Gabriel interrupts yet again, "Dean, want to stop rambling and actually do what I pay you for?"

"Um, yeah, I'll get right on that," Dean says as he tosses Castiel a wink.

As soon as Dean is safely in the back of the bakery, Castiel hisses, "Gabriel! What the hell?"

"Kid, you really need to lighten up a little bit, and Dean is your chance. He doesn't do commitment. I hear about his string of one night stands every time he comes in after any sort of break I give the guy. Honestly, Cassie, you can't go wrong with this one."

Castiel swallows as he considers what his brother told him. Maybe he really does need to loosen up, have some fun. He makes his decision when he asks Gabriel, "What time is his shift over?"

Gabriel's face lights up as he answers, "About two hours, but I can let him off a little early for my favorite brother."

"Right. Well, I'm just going to grade some papers until he's done, then," Castiel says nervously as he makes his way to his corner booth in the back.

"You do know he's not a prostitute, right? You actually have to try to pick him up, Cassie," Gabriel says seriously.

"What's this I hear about prostitutes?" Dean asks as he chooses that moment to make his reentrance. He walks over to Castiel to give him his bagel.

Castiel blushes beet red as Gabriel grins like the Cheshire cat. "I think Cassie has a little crush on you, Deano."

"Is that right?" Dean asks Castiel.

"You are very attractive," Castiel somehow finds his voice.

"I'd love to go home with you, but you saw my face, so I think that's a bad idea for both of us. Maybe I can pretend to be proper and not put out on the first date for once?" Dean says smoothly.

"You'd want to go on a date with me?" Castiel asks incredulously.

"You are very attractive," Dean deadpans.

"When?" Castiel asks, still in disbelief.

"I'll pick you up at your place around eight?" Dean seems to lose his confidence as he looks hopefully at Castiel. Castiel finds it endearing.

"Sounds good," Castiel answers.

Castiel is flustered, and he knows he is not going to get any work done today, so he begins to pack up his things. He moves quickly, hoping to avoid the advice he's sure Gabriel has for him. Of course, Castiel is not that lucky, and Gabriel sidles over to him before he can make his escape. "Cassie has a date!" He sings.

Castiel moves towards the door, but he doesn't manage to leave before he hears Gabriel yell, "Make sure you wrap it before you tap it!"

 

Once Castiel leaves, Gabriel whirls around on Dean. "Do you even know where the guy lives?"

"Well, now that you mention it..." Dean trails off.

Gabriel rolls his eyes. "You're lucky I like you."

 

Once Castiel reaches his apartment, he walks inside and throws open the blinds. The sun doesn't seem so annoying after his encounter with Dean. Castiel walks around with a dopey grin on his face for a while until he looks at the clock and sees it's not even ten in the morning yet. He decides he'll attempt to grade some papers, so he sits down at his kitchen table. He pulls out his red pen and starts in on his stack of papers. It's slow going because he still can't seem to get those bright eyes off his mind, but his students' work helps to distract him. He chuckles as reads an answer that has taken some liberties to correlate King Midas with the phrase, "Stay golden, Ponyboy."

He stops grading to make a sandwich for his lunch, but then he gets back to work. By two, he is caught up with all his grades. He sighs as he looks at the clock, again. It is still too early to start getting ready for his date, so he plops down in front of his tv. As he watches infomercials mindlessly, he is struck with the fact that he never told Dean where he lives. In a panic, he reaches for his phone, until he realizes he doesn't have Dean's number, either. There's only one person he can think to call, so he resignedly finds Gabriel in his contacts.

"Hey, Cassie!" Gabriel greets.

"I forgot to tell Dean where I live!" Castiel says in a rush.

"Don't worry about it, bro. I had it covered for you."

"Thanks, Gabriel."

"No problem, but as payment I will be expecting to hear about this date in excruciating detail when you get back," Gabriel stipulates.

"Yeah, yeah, I owe you. I'll talk to you later, Gabriel," Castiel answers as he hangs up the phone and flops back down on his couch to waste some more time.

 

When Dean gets home from the bakery around noon (thankful to be away from Gabriel's constant comments), he rushes to change his clothes. Before he leaves, he stops to look into his brother’s bedroom and sees he’s still sleeping. Dean rolls his eyes fondly and then walks out the door to his second job. It’s within walking distance, so he sets off at a brisk pace. Eventually, Singer's Scrap and Repair comes into view, and he hurries into the garage. He pulls on his coveralls with a smile still on his face. "What's your deal, boy?" Bobby, the owner, asks him gruffly.

"I have a date tonight," Dean admits.

As soon as he says that, he hears a screech from the office area of the shop, and a flash of red darts towards him. "DEAN WINCHESTER HAS A DATE!" The redhead screams.

"Yeah, yeah, you don't need to announce it to the whole shop, Charlie," Dean grumbles, but he is still smiling.

"Who's the lucky person? Anyone I know?" Charlie asks, rapid-fire.

"Um, their name is Cas," Dean answers with a sidelong glance at Bobby. 

Charlie picks up on that glance and immediately lights up with delight. She has seen Dean's string of one night stands pass through, both guys and girls, but she doesn't think he's ever been on an actual date with a guy before.

"Son, I'm not blind or stupid, so stop treating me like it," Bobby huffs.

“What do you mean?” Dean asks nervously.

“Seriously? It’s kind of a giveaway when you say ‘they’ instead of ‘she.’ You’ve been skating around telling me about your dates’ genders for years,” Bobby tells him.

"So, you don't mind that I'm going out with a guy?" Dean asks in disbelief.

"I'm not your old man. Why do I care what someone has in their pants? If you like them, you like them," Bobby says, and he's met with stunned looks from Charlie and Dean. Charlie is a raging lesbian, and while she has never hidden her sexuality, she has never exactly flaunted it in front of Bobby, either. Silently, she cheers for Bobby. Dean definitely needs someone in his life to just accept him for who he is, so he can get over his childhood and less than accepting father.

"Did you think I was some sort of homophobe, idjits?" Bobby asks, seeing their stunned expressions.

"Well, no, I just didn't think it'd not be a big deal," Dean replies.

"It's just who you are, son. Make sure you bring this boy around sometime, so I can meet him," Bobby says as he walks over to the car he is working on.

Charlie smiles brightly at Dean. "See? That wasn't so bad."

"Shut up," Dean says with a smile as he goes to find a car to start on.

 

A few hours later, Dean washes the grease off his hands. He is scrubbing under his nails when Charlie comes up to him and bumps his shoulder. "So, are you, like, super pumped for your date tonight?"

"I mean, he's really hot, so yeah," Dean says.

With this comment, Charlie seems to deflate a bit. "This isn't just going to be a one and done, is it, Dean?"

"I don't really know, Charlie. You see my face; it's not like we can do a whole lot with it like it is. We're stuck to dating like teenagers for the moment," Dean tells her.

"Good. Maybe you'll get over your hypermasculinity enough to actually fall for a guy, not just have sex and leave."

Dean snorts at that and turns to leave the garage. "See you later, Charlie! Bye, Bobby!" Dean calls over his shoulder.

"Go get 'em, tiger!" Charlie cheers.

 

Dean goes home and rushes to get ready. He puts on the jeans he knows make his ass look great, his favorite gray Henley, and a red and black flannel. He adds some gel to his hair, grimaces at his still blotchy face in the mirror, and then grabs his keys and gets ready to head out the door. He’s stopped by a voice calling, “Dean?”

 _Shit, I forgot about Sammy._ Sam walks into the kitchen. “Where are you going?” he asks suspiciously.

“I have, um, a date tonight I’m headed to,” he answers hesitantly.

“Oh. Is she nice?”

“Yeah, about that, she is actually a he, and he’s really nice, so I’ll see you later, yeah?” Dean beats a hasty retreat, not wanting to see his baby brother’s disappointed look that his brother ended up queer. He’s already out the door when a hand catches his wrist. “Dean!”

“Yeah, Sammy?” Dean asks tiredly, not meeting his eyes.

“I just want you to be happy, man. I don’t care who you date. You don’t have to be ashamed, okay?” Sam reassures him.

“Really?” Dean has never dared to hope this would be Sam’s reaction to finding out his big brother is bi.

“Yeah, jerk. Just have fun tonight.”

“Thanks. See you later, bitch.” Dean grins as he heads out the door, feeling much lighter than before. He can’t believe his good luck. _Bobby and Sammy don’t even care that I’m dating a guy!_

 

 As Dean enters his garage, he runs a hand over his baby in reverence. After all these years, he still can't believe she's his. He often thinks the only good thing his dad ever did for him was give him Baby. He hops in, and as he turns the key, he admires the roar of her engine. He opens his garage door and heads for Cas's house. As he drives, he sings along to Led Zeppelin to soothe his nerves. This is the first date he’s been nervous about in a long time. It makes him feel unsettled to care so much about what Cas thinks of him.

Before he knows it, Dean is pulling up in front of the apartment complex that matches the address Gabe gave him.  He parks Baby along the side of the road, mentally wincing that this is the best parking spot he can find for her, and opens the door to the complex. Dean moves to walk through the door, and immediately collides with Cas. “I’m so sorry!” Cas apologizes.

“It’s my fault, man. I should have been watching where I was going better. But I was going to come up to your apartment, you know,” Dean says.

“I didn’t want to bother you with finding my apartment, so I decided to just come down here to wait,” Castiel laughs nervously as he looks at his watch. 7:45, it reads. He decides to takes this as a sign that Dean was just as excited about tonight as he was.

“It’s no bother, I can promise you that. I might be needing that knowledge down the road,” Dean says with a wink. “Anyway, we might as well get going. I have big plans for us.”

“Sounds exciting,” Castiel replies as he follows Dean.

When Dean stops in front of the Impala, Castiel is delighted. “This is your car? She’s beautiful.”

Dean smiles at the compliment to his baby. “Sure is. ’67 Chevy Impala, love of my life.”

Castiel laughs at Dean’s obvious affection for his car as he gets in. The tips of his ears burn as he runs a hand over the leather while looking at the back seat and wondering exactly how cramped sex would be in this gorgeous car. He immediately decides it would be worth it. As Dean gets in, he sees where Cas is staring and smirks. He turns on his baby, and Cas’s attention turns to him. “So where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise,” Dean says evasively, “I think you’ll like it, though.”

“I’m sure I will,” Castiel smiles reassuringly.   

Dean drives until he reaches a drive-in movie theater. He finds a spot where they’ll have a good view, and Castiel gives him a gummy grin. Dean knows he approves of the date choice. It gives Dean a curious feeling in his stomach when he sees Cas’s smile. He stops staring at Cas long enough to pull a blanket from the back seat. He unbuckles and covers up with the blanket while lifting an edge and offering it to Cas. Cas rolls his eyes at Dean’s ploy to get closer but scoots across the bench seat anyway to settle into Dean’s side. He closes his eyes in contentment while Dean fiddles with the radio. He finds the right station and wraps his arm around Cas’s shoulders.

In all honesty, neither Dean nor Castiel can remember a whole lot of the movie plot when they leave the drive-in. They spent the movie sneaking glances at each other and making snarky comments about the special effects and acting. They wouldn’t have had it any other way, though. “Are you hungry?” Dean asks Cas.

“I can always eat,” Cas answers.

“A man after my own heart,” Dean tells him with a smile.

Dean racks his brain for somewhere they can go, and finally settles on the obvious. When he finally pulls into the parking lot of the Roadhouse, he looks over at Cas to gauge his reaction. “Looks good,” Cas says.

They both get out of the car, and as they walk towards the restaurant, Dean grabs Cas’s hand. Cas looks down at their joined hands and beams at Dean. They open the door, and Dean immediately heads towards a corner booth, never letting go of Cas’s hand. He stops cold in his tracks when he hears a familiar voice. “What do you think you’re doing here, Dean? I trust you to be on your own and even give you the car, and then I come back to see you’ve become a faggot? It looks like you got some disease on your face from slutting around, too. That’s a real way to thank your father for all I’ve done for you, boy. You’re an embarrassment,” John Winchester sneers at Dean and Cas from the bar.

Dean’s stomach drops, and he sees his luck has run out. For some reason, his dad is back in town. Sam and Bobby were understanding, but his dad never will be. _Fuck it,_ Dean thinks. This is the one good thing he has going for him right now, and he’s not going to lose Cas before he makes it past handholding.

Cas braces for Dean to drop his hand and push him away, saying this was all a mistake, but it never comes. If anything, Dean grips his hand even more tightly. “I’ve grown up some the past few years, but I see you haven’t. This is Castiel, my boyfriend, by the way.”

Dean puts his body between Cas and John, and it makes Cas’s heart ache despite the spike of joy he felt at Dean claiming Cas as his boyfriend. Dean had seemed to move in front of Cas almost unconsciously, like someone who had been doing this very same action for years. Cas filed that thought away to ask Dean about later. He’s interrupted from his thoughts when he notices a stern looking blond woman make her way over to them. “What’s all the commotion? John, do I need to cut you off?” she asks with her hands on her hips.

“Ellen!” Dean exclaims in relief.

Ellen’s turns sharply to take in Dean, still hand in hand with Castiel, and she turns back to John. “What’s all the fuss about with your boy? Why can’t you just leave the poor kid alone?”

“Because he’s disgracing me and the memory of his mama by being with that queer!” John spits.

“The only disgrace I see here is you, and I’m going to have to ask you to leave. I’ll call you a cab; you just go wait by the door,” Ellen tells him, leaving no room for argument.

John grumbles as he makes his way over to the door. “Thanks, Ellen. I don’t know what I was going to do,” Dean says, rubbing the back of his head. “This is Cas, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you,” Cas says.

“Yeah, you too. Anyone who stands by Dean in front of his dad is fine in my book,” Ellen tells Cas with a smile. “Let me go call a cab and get your dad out of here. I’ll be right back.”

Dean leads Cas to the corner booth that was their original destination. Dean gets in the booth first, and Cas squashes himself next to Dean. Dean smiles at Cas’s desire to be close to him and lifts his arm to Cas’s shoulders to make more room for him. “So, um… I hope you don’t mind I told my dad you were my boyfriend.”

Cas looks up at Dean in disbelief. “I didn’t mind at all,” he tells him truthfully. He is struck with the impulse to lean up and kiss Dean, but one look at his still blotchy face stops Cas. “Dean?” he asks.

“Hmm?”

"Did your dad ever hit you?” Cas asks softly.

Dean looks at him with an odd expression on his face. It looks like Dean is trying to hold back his emotions, but he finally says, “We’ll talk about it later, okay?”

“Okay, Dean. That’s fine. We don’t have to talk about it if it makes you uncomfortable. I guess we only met each other today, after all.” Cas says, even though he feels like he’s known Dean for a lot longer than that.

“Thanks for being understanding. It’s kind of hard for me to talk about, you know? I just repressed the shit out of everything when I was a kid, and now it just feels weird to really be honest with someone.”

Cas gives Dean a funny look. “Have you ever thought about seeing a therapist?”

“Cas, I work two jobs. I don’t have that kind of money to waste,” Dean says.

“Your mental health is not a waste, Dean,” Cas huffs.

“It is when I have my brother to worry about!” Dean’s voice raises a little.

Cas can tell Dean is getting agitated, so he backs off.

“Tell me about your brother. He obviously means a lot to you,” Cas requests.

Dean looks a little taken aback at the sudden change of topic, but he’s always eager to talk about his brother. “His name is Sammy. He’s 17, top of his class. He just has his shit together, you know? He wants to be a bigshot _environmental_ lawyer,” Dean smiles fondly when he emphasizes the environmental, even though he rolls his eyes. “Everything I wish I could have been. College just wasn’t in the cards for me, though. I had to earn money to make sure Sammy can get where he wants to go in life.”

“Dean,” Cas says softly, “No one should have to make decisions like that when they’re so young.”

“It’s okay. Honestly, it is. He’s the best thing I have. If I help him to get out of this town, and he does great stuff, well, sending him on his way was my contribution to the world, right?” Dean says.

“You’re so selfless and amazing, Dean, and don’t let anyone tell you differently,” Cas tells him fervently.

“Gee, Cas, you sure know how to make a guy blush.” Dean rubs his neck self-consciously.

Ellen makes her reappearance with two burgers, a beer, and a water. She sets the burgers in front of them both, and gives the beer to Cas. Cas looks questioningly at Dean, but he seems unperturbed. “It’s on the house. Sorry about John, Dean.”

Dean shrugs. “It’s okay, Ellen. Thanks for the burgers. They look delicious. If you really do feel bad, though, you could bring us some pie,” Dean suggests.

“I’ll see what I can do for you,” Ellen says.

Cas bites into his burger, and his mouth starts watering uncontrollably. “This burger is definitely one of the best I have ever had,” Cas declares.

“Have you never been to The Roadhouse before?” Dean asks in disbelief.

“Nope. Believe it or not, this is the first time I’ve gotten out in a while,” Cas answers. “Good food and good company, I don’t think this night could get much better.”

“If my face wasn’t all kinds of messed up, we could definitely put that theory to the test,” Dean says with a wink.

Cas blushes and redirects the conversation. “So, um, you said you had two jobs. What’s the second one?”

“I work at a garage. I do tune ups and the occasional repair. I would really love to open my own restoration business though.” Dean immediately turns their talk to classic cars. Even though Cas has no idea what most of the words coming out of Dean’s mouth are, he is enraptured by the way Dean’s eyes light up and the way his words sound. Dean suddenly trails off. “Sorry, no one cares, I know. I just get talking and forget not everyone has the same interests, you know?”

Cas frowns. “Dean, if you think something’s interesting, I’d love it if you shared it with me. I don’t have a lot of the knowledge you do about cars, but I’ll still listen to whatever you want to tell me,” Cas says.

Cas’s wheels are turning. After his encounter with John, Cas has no doubt where Dean has heard “no one cares” when talking about subjects he’s passionate about.

“Oh, um,” Dean is trying to think of a response, trying to think what he did to deserve a chance with a guy as great as Cas is, but he’s drawing a blank.

He is saved by Ellen bringing them apple pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side. “Thanks, Ellen!” He smiles up at her.

“Yeah, no problem, Dean. Come by more often, you hear? Bring your boy with you, too.”

“Will do,” Dean answers quickly. Ellen is scary when she’s mad, and Dean has seen enough of that in his lifetime.

Cas can’t stop the smile that spreads across his face. Dean said that they would be back to Ellen with such confidence, and for once, Cas believes his luck is going to hold.

Dean drives Cas back to his apartment complex in comfortable silence. Finally, he pulls into a slightly better parking spot than before and gets out of the car. Cas hasn’t moved, for some reason, so he opens his door for him. He smiles when he sees it’s because Cas had fallen asleep. Dean shakes him gently, and Cas jerks awake, slugging Dean on the arm. “Ouch, Cas!” Dean hisses. He feels his arm gingerly. _Yep, that’s definitely going to bruise._

“Oh my god! I’m so sorry, Dean!” Cas suddenly looks very close to tears.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, Cas! I’m fine. No harm done, yeah?” Dean reassures him.

Cas still won’t look up at him, but Dean asks, “Are you ready to go in?” Dean knows there’s more going on than what Cas is letting on, but it’s not like he’s spilled his guts to Cas yet, either.

Cas takes his hand and leads him through the door to the elevator. Cas subtly wipes at his eyes as they wait. The elevator arrives with a ding, and they both step in. Cas lives on the fourth floor, and Dean keeps his hand in Cas’s until they’re standing in front of his door. “This would be the part where you invite me in, but…” Dean waves a hand to his face.

“Who says I put out on the first date?” Cas says with a completely straight face.

“I suppose you wouldn’t,” Dean sighs, “Well, goodnight, Cas. I had a great time, and I hope you did, too.”

Before Dean can turn around to head back to the elevator, Cas reaches out and hugs Dean. Dean wraps his arms around Cas and breathes in his scent. They stay like that until they’re startled apart by a door slamming down the hall. They finally break away from each other, and Dean heads back down the hall with a “I’ll call you!” and a feeling of contentment.

He’s in a daze the whole drive home. He can’t believe that someone like Cas would ever fall for someone like him. It seems too good to be true. _If it seems too good to be true, it probably is,_ a voice in his head that sounds suspiciously like his dad says. A conversation drifting just on the edge of his mind floats back to him. “ _He doesn't do commitment. I hear about his string of one night stands every time he comes in after any sort of break I give the guy. Honestly, Cassie, you can't go wrong with this one."_ Dean’s heart sinks. Cas was just looking for a good time, but him and his stupid poison ivy ruined it. Now Cas is stuck in some stupid gay fantasy Dean is trying to play out, and all he wanted was a one and done. Dean is startled when he hears gravel crunching under his tires, and he realizes he’s pulling into his driveway. He guides Baby into the garage and gets out. He opens his kitchen door and steps inside, blinking at the bright light. Dean looks around, confused, until he sees Sam reading at the table. “So, how’d it go?” Sam asks eagerly.

“I don’t think it’s going to work out,” Dean says tonelessly, and pushes past Sam to his room.

Sam deflates. He really thought Dean was going to find someone to settle down with, but if they weren’t right for each other, there’s not a lot he can do about it. Something seemed off about Dean tonight, though. He sighs, turns off the kitchen light, and makes his way into his own bedroom.

 

Sunday morning dawns bright and early for Dean. “Deannnn,” Sam whines, “I’m hungry.”

Dean blinks blearily at the sudden onslaught of light. “What time is it?” he grumbles.

“Around six.” Sam grins sheepishly.

Dean sighs. He knows there’s no way he’s going to get back to sleep, anyway. His night was disturbed by nightmares. He climbs out of bed and slowly makes his way to the kitchen. He is starting to make some pancake batter when Sam joins him in the kitchen. “So, what was his name?”

“Whose?” Dean asks, playing stupid, hoping Sam will just drop it.

“Your date’s.” Sam is not going to fall for Dean’s classic tactics of avoidance, not today.

“Castiel,” Dean says, gritting his teeth.

“How’d you meet?”

“Look, Sam, I just really don’t want to talk about it, okay?” Dean is trying so desperately to keep his cool.

“Dean, just tell me what you didn’t like about him. You seemed kind of weird last night,” Sam says softly, determined to get to the bottom of what is bothering Dean.

“That’s the problem, Sammy! I liked everything about him! He’s hot, understanding, funny, and really fucking nice.” Dean can feel moisture starting to build up in the corners of his eyes, but Dean Winchester does not cry over other guys. _That’s something a fag would do, Dean,_ he can hear his father saying. Anytime Dean wanted to do something as a child that did not meet John Winchester’s standard of manliness, that’s the line he was met with. “Dean?” Sam asks, and he puts a gentle hand on his back.

Sam leads him towards the couch, stunned. He’s never seen his brother cry since their mom died, never over any of his previous girlfriends (if you could even call them that), and certainly never over a guy he had gone on one date with. The tears are rolling down Dean’s face, and Dean has lost all control over his body. He falls onto the couch as his body is racked with sobs. He hasn’t cried in so long, and it dredges up old pain he thought he had forgotten. He’s not even crying over Castiel anymore, he’s crying about his father, his mother, the childhood he never got to have, the responsibilities he has to shoulder, and the fact that he’s so fucked up he can’t even make it past a first date. Sam just stares at him. He has no idea how to handle this side of Dean; he’s never seen it before. Dean has always been so strong and there for him no matter what, and Sam realizes all the years of this must have taken its toll on Dean. Sam just sits there with Dean until his sobs finally subside, and he can breathe again. “God, I’m so sorry, Sammy. You shouldn’t have to deal with this,” Dean sniffles.

Sam hands him a tissue. “Dean, you don’t have to always be the strong one. You can lean on me sometimes, too.”

“Thanks, Sammy.” Dean gives him a weak smile and brushes past him, back to his bed. He couldn’t sleep earlier, but now he feels drained, like he just ran a marathon. “You just have to cook that batter,” he tells Sam.

“Okay, Dean. Do you want any?” Sam asks. He really wants to know the root of Dean’s first visible feelings in years, but he reigns himself back in.

“No, I’m good. I think I’m just going to try to get a little more sleep,” Dean says, and shuts his bedroom door behind him. He doesn’t have to work at the bakery today, _Thank god,_ so Dean just burrows under his covers and lets his mind go blank.

 

“Dean? Dean?”

Dean can feel someone saying his name, but it feels like he’s under water. He opens his eyes slowly to find Sam standing over him. “Did you have to work at the garage today? It’s almost two.”

“Shit!” Dean scrambles out of bed, and hurriedly finds clothes from off the floor.

He rushes out of his room, grabs his keys from the bowl by the door, yells, “Later, Sammy!” and he’s off to work. After what feels like the longest drive of his life, he runs into the garage. Still panting, Ash, another of the mechanics, confronts Dean with a sly grin. “Late night?” he asks.

“Something like that,” Dean mumbles and goes to tug on his jumpsuit. He creeps past Bobby’s office, praying Bobby has been too busy to notice his absence, but he’s stopped by a voice calling him into his office. “Why were you late today?” he asks gruffly.

“Um, I just slept kind of shitty, had a rough morning. No big deal. It won’t happen again. I’m sorry,” Dean answers, hanging his head.

Bobby takes a closer look at Dean, and his expression softens when he notices Dean’s state of disarray and the bags under his eyes. “How’d your date go, anyway?” Bobby asks with a raised eyebrow.

“I don’t think it’s going to work out,” comes the reply that is quickly becoming Dean’s standard.

“You’re not even going to go on a second date? You seemed pretty excited about this guy the other day.” Bobby notes the way Dean blanches when he said “guy,” and mentally rolls his eyes. _Stupid John, messing that boy all up. He can’t even let Dean be happy when he’s gone._ “I know Charlie will be disappointed when she hears about this.”

“Yeah, I’m sure she will,” Dean grumbles.

“Listen, why don’t you just head home, Dean. To be honest, you look like shit, and you need to sort yourself out,” Bobby suggests.

“I need this paycheck, Bobby. I’m already putting less in Sammy’s college fund this month,” Dean argues.

“I’ll pay you for today, anyway. You’re no good to anyone in this state. Just go home and get some sleep,” Bobby says.

“Thanks, Bobby.”

Bobby frowns at the back of Dean’s head as he leaves. Dean’s lack of protest concerns him. He knows Dean would never have agreed to missing work if there wasn’t something really wrong.

Back at his house, Dean collapses into bed again. He’s not sure how he’s so tired when he just woke up an hour ago, but he falls asleep almost instantly, and doesn’t wake up again until his alarm is blaring at him the next morning.

 

Castiel rubs the sleep from his eyes as he sits up and looks at his depressingly empty bed. Even though Dean isn’t there with him, just the thought of their date makes Cas smile. He trudges down the hall and flips on his coffee maker. He gets dressed for his day, tries to tame his hair and fails (again), and fills his thermos with coffee before he leaves for the day.

When he walks into his classroom, he’s hit with a sense of contentment. He’s doing what he loves, and he just met a guy he thinks he could definitely grow to love. He can’t seem to wipe the goofy grin from his face, and in one of his classes, a student asks him about it. It’s Sam, one of his best students, that asks him, “What has you in such a good mood, Mr. Novak?”

Cas hesitates. He’s shared some of his personal life with his students before, but he is unsure whether he should tell them he is gay. He knows the school and its students are fairly liberal, but he doesn’t really want to suffer the backlash from some of his more conservative colleagues. Cas settles on, “I had a date Saturday night.”

His class gives him the appropriate aww’s and wolf whistles, but Sam keeps pressing him. “Is she nice?”

Castiel gulps. He doesn’t want to lie to his kids, so he bites the bullet. “I’m gay, actually, but he was exceedingly nice, Sam.”

Cas scans his students’ reactions. A few of the girls look disappointed, for some reason Castiel can’t fathom, but other than that, everyone seems to have taken the news in stride. Sam, however, has a different look on his face. Cas would not have pegged him as homophobic, but there’s always one bad egg in the dozen, he supposes. He decides he can’t let it bother him. He’s sure there’ll be more negativity as the news spread; there always is.

Mr. Novak’s words strike Sam as similar to something he has heard before. He remembers what Dean had said before he walked out the door last night. S _he is actually a he, and he’s really nice, so I’ll see you later, yeah?_ Sam instantly dismisses this as coincidence, but resolves to ask Dean more about it later. If he’s lucky Dean won’t start crying for seemingly no reason again. Sam’s mind drifts through the rest of the class, worrying about Dean. When the bell rings, he gathers up his things quickly and makes his way to the bus.

He’s the only senior on the bus, but he doesn’t mind. He knows money is tight for Dean, and he can’t be resentful for not having his own car like the rest of his classmates. Dean is already working himself to the bone, and Sam does not wish more work on his big brother. He’s startled out of his thoughts by a girl who asks him, “Can I sit with you?”

Sam smiles at her and scoots over to make room. “Thanks,” she says, and does something with her hands Sam doesn’t quite catch. “No problem. I’m Sam, by the way.” Sam tells her, looking out the window.

There’s no response, so Sam quickly looks over at her. She meets his eyes, and she looks at him quizzically. “Sorry. Did you say something?”

“I’m Sam,” he repeats, deliberately making eye contact with her. He notices she doesn’t quite meet his eyes, but she looks slightly down, and that confirms his suspicions.

“I’m Eileen,” she says.

“Nice to meet you,” Sam replies, and they spend the rest of the ride until her stop in companionable silence.

When Sam walks into his house, there are no signs of life. _Dean must be at the garage still,_ he thinks. He shrugs and walks back out. He heads to the library, where he checks out several books on learning sign language. He’s in his room when he hears Dean get home. He makes his way out to the kitchen and leans on the counter. “How was work?” he asks Dean.

“Fine. How was school?” Dean replies curtly.

“It was really good, actually. It wasn’t just good for me, either. One of my teachers seemed pretty happy today. Said he had a date on Friday night,” Sam says, checking Dean for his reaction.

 _Didn’t Cas say something about being a teacher?_ He wonders. “Glad someone had a good night,” he grumbles, refusing to believe Cas was Sam’s teacher.

“He also said his date was exceedingly nice and a guy,” Sam adds.

“Yeah? What’s his name?” Dean asks in what he hopes is a casual, just-making-conservation, tone.

“Mr. Novak,” Sam answers, hopes starting to crumble when that elicits no expression from Dean.

 _Shit, what even was Cas’s last name?_ Dean doesn’t think they ever told each other their last names. Gabriel’s last name was Milton, but that didn’t mean he and Cas had the same last name. “Uh, what did he look like?” Dean gives up on trying to appear casual, and Sam smirks.

“Black hair, blue eyes, pretty dreamy if I do say so myself.”

Dean’s eyes widen. Sam is definitely describing Cas. _I thought he only wanted a quick lay, though?_ Dean is confused, and it must show on his face. “Dean, whatever your problem is, don’t you think you should ask him about it? He sounded like he went on a completely different date than you did. He said he had an awesome time,” Sam says.

Something is still not adding up, but he decides the least he can do is ask Cas on a second date.

**Author's Note:**

> That's all for now, folks.


End file.
